Two or Three Events in the Last Days 021
Chapter 21: Plunder
When drawing talismans with paper and brush, Jing Lin felt no difficulty at all. Every stroke flowed smoothly from start to finish. However, when drawing a talisman in the air, moving his finger even a tiny amount caused him immense discomfort. The difference between the two methods was obvious.
The spirit gathering array was only a basic formation. Most of the formations described later in the formation manual required the use of void-drawn talismans. It seemed he would have to put practicing void talisman drawing high on his list of priorities.
But practice alone would not be enough to master it. Void talisman drawing relied on one’s ability to control and seize spiritual qi. That ability depended fundamentally on the strength of one’s cultivation. The strength of one’s cultivation, in turn, depended on both aptitude and the Lesser Vast Heaven Heart Method. Since Grandpa Zhang had preserved the talisman and formation manuals alongside the cultivation method and left them all to him together, they were clearly interconnected. Unfortunately, Grandpa Zhang had once said that Jing Lin would likely never need the Lesser Vast Heaven Heart Method in his lifetime, probably because there had been no spiritual qi in the world back then. As a result, he had never explained the manual in detail. Everything now would have to be figured out through his own exploration.
Jing Lin flipped through the latter half of the Formation Manual and found himself coveting several of the grand formations that relied on void talisman drawing. Sadly, for now, all he could do was admire them from afar.
Afterward, he took out his tools and drew several sets of Spirit-Locking Array talismans. Once the rain stopped, he intended to use the house as the formation core and establish a Spirit-Locking Array.
The spirit gathering array was effective, but the concentrated spiritual qi inside it was too intense for him and Le Le in their current condition. Their bodies were still too weak to withstand such force. A gentler Spirit-Locking Array would be more suitable.
The Spirit-Locking Array prevented spiritual qi from dispersing. By replacing the talismans once every ten days, he could maintain a moderate level of spiritual qi—neither too much nor too little. It would be just right for them and would gradually nourish and condition their bodies.
He really should have set up such a formation earlier. Unfortunately, he had been too busy buying supplies to find the time. No matter how beneficial spiritual qi was, it could not fill an empty stomach. As an ordinary person, food still came first.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
While thinking about it, he drew another complete set for Zhao Zhiwen’s family. Although he called Zhao Chenghuai and Zhou Yu uncle and aunt, he regarded them as half his parents. The Spirit-Locking Array was gentle and beneficial, and naturally, he wanted them to enjoy its effects as well. They were getting older, and this was precisely the sort of thing they needed.
The rain did not stop until after lunch. The air afterward felt exceptionally fresh, filled with the fragrance of wet grass and earth.
Wearing plastic rain boots, Zhao Zhiwen came to find Jing Lin. He said the rain had stopped and asked whether he wanted to take a trip into the lotus pond.
Jing Lin immediately agreed. He changed into his own boots, brought Le Le along, and headed outside.
Just as they closed the door, they spotted Yan Fei and Yan Lu approaching from down the road.
Seeing how they were dressed, Yan Fei asked, “Heading somewhere?”
“We’re going to the lotus pond,” Zhao Zhiwen replied. His eyes briefly swept over Yan Lu before he grinned and asked, “What about you two?”
Yan Fei looked at Jing Lin and smiled. “It’s a rainy day, and we were bored, so we came to find you. You two are about the only young people in the village we really know.”
“Exactly!” Yan Lu chimed in. “Next time you go somewhere fun, invite us along. The more people there are, the livelier it is.” She’d never miss an opportunity to create chances for her brother to pursue the person he liked.
“Sure!” Zhao Zhiwen agreed immediately. The chance to spend more time with Yan Lu was exactly what he wanted.
Jing Lin nodded as well.
So they left Le Le with Zhao Chenghuai and Zhou Yu, and the four young adults headed toward Zhao Zhiwen’s fish pond. To explore the lotus pond, they first had to drag the boat over.
While carrying the boat, Jing Lin and Zhao Zhiwen received quite a surprise.
Yan Lu looked slim and delicate, yet her strength was astonishing. The three men carried one end together, while Yan Lu carried the other end by herself, and she walked as though it required almost no effort.
Once the boat reached the lotus pond, all four climbed aboard, and Zhao Zhiwen used a bamboo pole to push them forward.
The pond was still covered by a thin layer of mist left behind by the recent storm. Crystal-clear droplets of water clung to the overlapping lotus leaves. Whenever the boat brushed against them, the droplets trembled and rolled down into the water.
Before long, everyone aboard was more or less splattered with water.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Yan Lu was in high spirits throughout the journey and picked quite a few lotus seed pods under Zhao Zhiwen’s enthusiastic guidance.
Jing Lin, meanwhile, remained relatively quiet. Since Yan Fei did not expect him to start conversations on his own, he deliberately found topics to discuss. During their conversation, Jing Lin explained why they had come to the lotus pond.
Yan Fei said, “What you’re describing sounds similar to something a friend of mine once told me.”
He explained that he had a university classmate whom he only learned was a “Third-generation Red” – a descendant of a high-ranking revolutionary official. The two had gotten along well and would occasionally met for meals. However, at one point, the friend suddenly became unreachable.
Then, just about half a month before the nationwide blackout, Yan Fei had unexpectedly received a call from him.
His friend had urged him to leave the city if possible. If leaving was impossible, he should at least stockpile food and supplies at home. According to him, humanity’s living environment was about to undergo enormous changes.
After saying only those few hurried sentences, the friend hung up. When Yan Fei tried calling back, he could no longer get through.
His friend had always been a serious and trustworthy person. Those warnings were not the sort of thing he would make up as a joke.
Yan Fei chose to believe him.
After a day of consideration, he convinced his parents to sell their family business and house. They initially kept their car to help transport supplies, but shortly after the blackout, the vehicle became useless. Eventually, they found a horse farm and purchased two horses instead.
After hearing this, Jing Lin felt even more certain about his own suspicions regarding spiritual qi. The changes were clearly not limited to humans and animals. Plants were changing too.
Just then, Yan Lu suddenly pointed ahead and widened her eyes. “Look! Over there!”
Jing Lin turned and saw a lotus flower floating on the water ahead. Half of its petals had turned black. Even stranger, every lotus leaf and lotus flower surrounding it had become yellow and withered.
The sight was deeply unsettling. Zhao Zhiwen hesitated before continuing to push the boat closer.
Once they were near enough, they realized the black coloration was extraordinarily dense, as though ink might drip from it at any moment. Numerous dead shrimp and small fish floated nearby as well.
They scooped the dead fish and shrimp into the boat to take them back for examination.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin picked up one of the fish and smelled it. There was no odor of decay, indicating that it had died only recently. He memorized the approximate location of the strange lotus flower and reached out to measure the extent of the blackened area.
Before he could touch it, Yan Fei grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t touch it carelessly,” Yan Fei said. He snapped off a nearby lotus leaf and used its thorn-covered stem to estimate the distance. After marking measurement lines onto the stem, he handed it to Jing Lin.
Looking at him, he said, “That black color is too strange. We don’t know if it’s poisonous, so don’t touch it directly.”
Jing Lin accepted the stem and nodded. “Thank you. I overlooked that.”
He only glanced briefly at Yan Fei before quickly looking away. For reasons he could not explain, ever since their first meeting, he had found it difficult to look directly into Yan Fei’s eyes.
Naturally, Yan Fei noticed this subtle avoidance. He merely smiled and said nothing more.
Jing Lin told Zhao Zhiwen to continue onward.
As they traveled through the pond, they saw no additional dead fish or withered lotus flowers until they reached another corner, where they found a second lotus flower with blackened petals. Dead fish floated around it as well, and the surrounding lotus leaves and flowers had already withered.
Using the same method, they recorded the length of the blackened section. Afterward, they traveled to the lotus flower they had discovered the previous evening.
There, they found that the water, which had been clear the day before, was now littered with dead fish and shrimp of various sizes. The surrounding lotus leaves looked wilted but remained green rather than yellow.
Jing Lin measured the blackened area again and compared it with his observations from the day before. The black section had grown.
Jing Lin said, “Of the three, this black color likely appeared last on this particular flower. Yesterday, there weren’t any dead fish here. Today, the black area on the petals has expanded, and now dead fish have appeared around it.”
It was almost as though the blackness on the lotus flower was feeding on the lives of nearby creatures.
The thought was deeply unsettling.
This kind of plunder was terrifying.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: One of two for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
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